Blood Res.  2021 Dec;56(4):243-251. 10.5045/br.2021.2021102.

Multicenter retrospective analysis of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in Korea

• Yi JH
• Lee GW
• Lee JH
• Yoo KH
• Jung CW
• Kim DS
• Lee JO
• Eom HS
• Byun JM
• Koh Y
• Yoon SS
• Kim JS
• Kong JH
• Yhim HY
• Yang DH
• Yoon DH
• Lim DH
• Lee WS
• Shin HJ

• KMID: 2524074
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5045/br.2021.2021102

Abstract

Background
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common type of adult leukemia in Western countries but is rare in the East Asian countries. Due to its rarity and the lack of feasible novel agents and laboratory prognostic tools, there are limited data on the clinical outcomes of this disease in Asia. To clarify the current treatment status, we performed a multicenter retrospective analysis of patients with CLL in Korea.
Methods
The medical records of 192 eligible patients between 2008 and 2019 were reviewed for clinical characteristics, treatment courses, and outcomes. The first-line treatment regimens of the patients included in this analysis were as follows: fludarabine/cyclophosphamide/rituximab (FCR) (N=117, 52.7%), obinutuzumab plus chlorambucil (GC) (N=30, 13.5%), and chlorambucil monotherapy (N=24, 10.8%).
Results
The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 55.6 months, and the average 2-year PFS rate was 80.3%. PFS was not significantly different between the patients receiving FCR and those receiving GC; however, chlorambucil treatment was associated with significantly inferior PFS (P ＜0.001). The median overall survival was 136.3 months, and the average 5- and 10-year OS rates were 82.0% and 57.4%, respectively.
Conclusion
This is one of the largest studies involving Korean patients with CLL. Although the patients had been treated with less favored treatment regimens, the outcomes were not different from those reported in Western studies.

Keyword

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia; Outcomes; Asia

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Progression-free survival according to the first-line treatment regimens. Whole population (A), patients aged >65 years (B), patients aged ≤65 years (C). Abbreviations: Cum survival, cumulative survival; FCR, fludarabine/cyclophosphamide/rituximab.

• 

  Fig. 2 Overall survival. Survival in the whole population (A), survival according to age (B), survival according to 17p deletion status (C) survival according to TP53 mutation status (D). Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; Cum survival, cumulative survival; OS, overall survival.

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